Wine: words of wisdom from home and abroad

If you have caught up with last week’s newsletter you will know a bit more about On Foot’s fearless leader Simon Scutt, than you did before. However, those that know Simon best will have noticed that mention of one of his key interests was omitted: wine. Serial On Footers may also have spotted the suspicious tendency of our walks to traverse through good wine regions – indeed that may well be why you are serial On Footers…

Speaking on the role of wine in an On Foot walk, Simon says: “As a walker you are part of the landscape, just as the vine is. What is more, the very vines through which you have been walking may well be the same that have produced the wine you are drinking. Most European wine grown in small family vineyards stays in the region – even in the village; that puts the walker in direct touch with the soil.

“It is not wine country generally that appeals to the walker, but a particular scale of operation and depth of history and tradition, that the old European wine areas have managed to sustain in such abundance.”

“Likewise the wine is an integral part of the culture of the region, and the true, thinking walker is in touch with the soul of the locale – it is a function of this pace of travel; slow and considered, as the old-fashioned vintner is in his vineyard, cutting and pruning with deft care, weighing up each bunch of grapes to decide whether it is suitable for the style of the wine that he has in mind before snipping it off, carefully, so as not to damage the grapes. He or she has a son, a daughter, maybe a grandchild, learning through watching, and if the spurious glamour of modern life does not waylay the child, he or she will be there to carry on the tradition as “fils” or “hija”, proudly waiting to welcome that next set of walkers from all over the world, and to explain the way that wine is produced in the family vineyard.”

Did you know? You can filter routes on our website by selecting a specific interest such as ‘wine’ or ‘archaeology’. Simply navigate to the homepage, select ‘refine your search’ and scroll down to ‘interests’.

It’s true that there is a unique recipe to crafting the best On Foot walks and wine is most firmly on the ingredients list. Although best experienced with friends old and new and after a good day’s walk, there is no reason at all why you should not be able to enjoy a taste of abroad from your own home. We have asked Edgar, one of our hoteliers from the Castles of the Rhine route to share a few words on the wines from his home town, all of which are available to purchase online (see below). He says:

“Starting in Bingen [night one of the On Foot walk], the most well known vineyard is Rüdesheimer Berg Schloßberg. Then passing Bacharach is of course Bacharacher Hahn, a unique vineyard which belongs to the family Jost, and they make astonishing Riesling. Moving on to Oberheimbach, Dr Kauer is Professor for Organic Viticulture at the University of Geisenheim, and of course makes a very good eco-wine.

“Then in Kaub, of course is the best wine on the tour…no doubt about it. [Edgar’s hotel is in Kaub!] We live on the sunny side of the river and so our wines are superior! I should also mention that nearby Asmannshausen is a special place for the best pinot noirs in Europe. It is an enclave founded years ago by Cistercian monks from Clairvaux, Burgandy. But you know, after Kaub the world is finished anyway… ;)”

Thanks Edgar! Our Castles of the Rhine route is one of many On Foot walks that pass through notable areas for wine production and we will be sharing more information on these in the coming weeks.

Follow the links below for ideas on where to buy the wine online but shop around for the best prices! Please note that the links are examples only and On Foot Holidays has not tested any of these online providers.

Rüdesheimer Berg Schloßberg – Riesling. Best producers (may not be available outside of Europe) are Breuer, Kesseler and Bishop.

Bacharacher Hahn – Riesling.

Dr Kauer – Riesling.

Asmannshausen – Pinot Noir.

IN OTHER NEWS:

You may remember a few weeks ago that we mentioned that Kalypso, one of our hosts in Monodendri, Greece, had decided to close the doors of her guesthouse to allow herself to focus on other things. In response to the lovely messages you sent her, she said:

“I appreciate also that you sent me the messages of our clients. To tell you the truth, I got emotional; I was enjoying working with clients from you and I remember very well the contact with them. Please tell them if you can that I want really to thank them and I am very happy for their messages!”

Until next time and with very best wishes from us all at On Foot Holidays.

Simon Scutt (Director) and all the team
On Foot Holidays

Snow-capped mountains rise from a sea of green to stand guard of honour as the plane touches down in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, where a walk through the woodland awaits.

While the experience-hungry hordes have been flocking to Croatia, its little northern neighbour is still largely untouched by tourists, although the call of its countryside is growing ever louder. In 1991, Slovenia was the first republic to split from the former Yugoslavia. It joined NATO and the European Union 13 years later and hasn’t looked back.

Predjama Castle

Bordered by Austria, Hungary and Croatia, Slovenia is at the crossroads of Europe, or as one local guide puts it, “Europe’s Highway A1”. The Romans, the Crusaders and Napoleon’s troops all passed through en route to the Holy Land or the trade routes of the East, leaving behind traces of their knowledge and culture.

Almost 70% of the country is forest and the climate ranges from sub-Mediterranean to Alpine – and thanks to the underground rivers of the Karst where we are to walk, it has the most water per capita in Europe.

Some of the gorgeous wild flowers

Officially the walk is from Ljubljana to Trieste in Italy, although local driver Gregor drops us off at our starting point in Landol, about 60km down the highway from the capital. First stop is the magnificent Predjama Castle, the largest cave castle in the world that looks like it has dropped straight out of a Harry Potter film. As it turns out, it was used in one film.

From there it’s on through woods and meadows ablaze with wildflowers, a stop for lunch under an ancient elm in Strane, to Hudivec and a delightful tourist farm with a dramatic mountain backdrop. Hosts Emilijan and Katya introduce us to the local soup, jota, a delicious mix of sauerkraut, garlic, beans, garlic and ham, followed by the biggest slab of meat I’ve ever seen served with vegetables, and then cream cake.

Next morning, we depart for the 16km trek across the lower slopes of Mt Nanos to Vipava. Even though we decided against taking the high route, it proves to be a strenuous walk through woodland and forest, across scree, and down rocky trails, all the while delivering spectacular views across the valley under the shadow of Nanos. The last few kilometres, all downhill, are the hardest so it is sheer bliss to cross a pretty little bridge and enter the clean and postcard-perfect town of Vipava.

Curious architecture in Stanjel

We soon arrive at the arched entry to a courtyard where host Nevenka makes us welcome with a drop of her pear firewater and then, as we sit in a shady courtyard under a big old tree dripping with figs, her son delivers a bottle of Riesling from his boutique Wipach winery. A marvellous end to the day.

Before setting out on another 16km walk, mostly uphill to Stanjel, we wander around Vipava, which has 25 bridges, flowers blooming from every balcony and path, and streets so clean they appear to have been mopped that morning. Today’s route is meadows and woodland dotted with little villages.

The tree makes a better signpost

Stanjel, once called St Angel, is a walled hilltop village with quaint narrow streets. Here, our host Marija directs us to the nearby Ferrari Garden, a peaceful place of terraced lawns, a pond, and panoramic views of forest-coated hillsides, mountains and vineyards. Dinner today is in Goce, a small village on the next hill, where the Mesesnel family delivers a full degustation experience with wines from their own cellar.

Fortunately, the next day’s walk is an easier 11km to Tomaj and we head out across the wooded Karst to the home of the Teran wines, and local prosciutto and pancetta. By now, the walking is easy, past vineyards, cherry trees loaded with fruit for the picking, and through meadows of wildflowers. It’s a cruise into Tomaj, where we will spend two nights with time out to see the famous Lipizzaner horses at Lipica, the town that gave them their name.

It’s a 15km hike to Sezana for lunch in a picturesque botanic garden and then we head on to Lipica in time to see the horses on show. We are glad that the On Foot Holidays team have organised a taxi home.

And now it’s down to the final leg. As always there are shortening options for walkers, so with the heat bearing down as we pass across the border into Opicina in Italy, we decide to take the recommended bus and cut the walk from 21km to 15km.

We celebrate with a spritz on the Trieste canal front and congratulate ourselves. Despite having not trained or made any preparation, we had succeeded. It was a mighty six-day challenge into the very heart of the Slovenian culture. We heard all manner of birds including cuckoos, fed on roadside berries, drank sweet spring water and experienced the country as only walking allows.

Dot Whittington

Dot is Editor of Your Time magazine, an Australian publication with some great travel ideas for the 55+ generation. A longer version of this article appeared in the August 2019 edition. 

https://www.yourtimemagazine.com.au

Green Europe at its most beguiling – the “Kras”, or Karst, in the west of this tiny country, is an area of woodlands, meadows and unspoilt villages with an ever-present backdrop of mountains. With On Foot Holidays’ self-guided walking holiday, you’ll also discover the tremendous variety of food and wine Slovenia has to offer, much of it home-grown by your hosts. And autumn is a wonderful time to walk through the vineyards, heavy with the scent and colours of the grapes, and busy with the harvest.

The area is home to some fine vineyards producing the unique Teran wine, a ferocious red to be drunk as accompaniment to the local prsut (prosciutto). After a first night in the pretty Slovenian capital Ljubljana, you stay in farms that produce their own wine, hams and honey, and grow all manner of fruit.

The culinary influences become more mediterranean as you travel westwards, ending your holiday in the lively Italian seaport of Trieste. Why not add extra nights here to explore the city, or to visit the original Lipizzaner stud or the extraordinary Skocjan cave system nearby?

(With thanks to Margaret Soraya Photography for images 1 and 3)